One innovation offered exclusively by Furniture House and ideal for the new downsized homes is this custom buffet server which features a pull-put dining room table that can accommodate up to eight people — while providing a wine rack and storage for liquor and wine glasses.

SARATOGA LAKE — With Gen Xers and late baby boomers adapting more active lifestyles and seeking greater social connections, many are moving into smaller homes, whether it’s an upscale urban townhouse, a suburban condominium, or charming small-town cottage.

Such an evolution calls for re-thinking traditional furniture, which hasn’t changed much in decades, according to Mario DiSiena, owner of The Furniture House in Saratoga Lake and Queensbury.

“With lifestyles evolving and people’s needs changing, interior design and furniture need to change as well,” he said as he walked through showrooms in his expansive Saratoga Lake store.

Residential floor plans are becoming more fluid, with traditional layouts of living and dining rooms giving way to Great Rooms that combine kitchens and dining rooms with living and family rooms, he said.

Furniture needs to change to reflect this evolution, DiSiena said, adding that the traditional sofa, loveseat, and sectional are as dated as the old station wagon.

He said that Furniture House’s “conversation sofas” are ideal for contemporary lifestyles — as they are gently curved or angled so people can comfortably enjoy eye contact while they are socializing.

The conversation sofas’ angled shape also allows greater flexibility in arranging a room’s furnishings, he said. While linear traditional sofas typically need to be set against a long windowless wall, a conversation sofa can be set nearly anywhere at oblique angles, enhancing or creating new, intriguing focal points in a room while allowing more flexibility in traffic patterns.

The emergence of smaller homes is prompting people to seek greater functionality in their furniture, DiSiena said as he walked up to a buffet/server, which features a pull-out dining room table which can host up to eight people as well as providing a wine rack and storage for liquor and wine glasses. Demonstrating its multi-tasking features, DiSiena pulled open a drawer in the buffet/server which revealed that it elegantly and conveniently stores the dining table’s leaves.

“Many people who are downsizing don’t want a big dining room table, they want an efficient one, but when company comes, they also want to be able to accommodate their guests in style,” he said.

The item is custom-crafted by Amish artisans with premium hardwoods to DiSiena’s specifications, like many other items available at The Furniture House.

Another concept suitable for contemporary lifestyles is Furniture House’s Murphy bed, which is ideal for what was once a third bedroom but is now is a dual-purpose home office/guest room.

By day, the innovative creation serves as a efficient, stately desk with a ceiling-height back — but it effortlessly folds down to convert into a plush, comfortable bed for guests’ nighttime use.

Other changes in furniture are emerging to suit more compact homes, DiSiena said, gesturing toward a custom hardwood bed that features storage underneath and in the headboard.

“With homes becoming a lot smaller, there’s a need to maximize space,” he said. “Also, chests of drawers have become wider with a door on one side and drawers on the other to provide more useful storage in bedrooms.”

GenXers and baby boomers also seek to express their individuality and their aesthetic awareness through their furniture, DiSiena said, as he showed a customer a dining room set featuring chairs with curved backs crafted from quartersawn oak planks affixed to a flexible black stainless-steel spine. The look is stunning, while the chairs provide ultimate comfort, he said.

In another one of Furniture House’s many showrooms, are various tables and chairs with “live edges” that reveal each wood species’ natural configuration.

DiSiena said that purchasing furniture is no longer focused on price alone, but it’s about how people want to live their lives, inspire their sense of style and make an aesthetic statement.

“People are no longer satisfied with conventional furniture — They want something ‘Wow,’ something unique, pieces they really want to call their own and show off their home. This is furniture you want to keep and cherish — and that your heirs will someday fight over!”

He added that quality, expert craftsmanship and fine design are becoming ever more important criteria for people as they create their home environments.

“This is investment-grade furniture that makes your home special and unique, and you’ll be proud to own because nobody else has anything else like it,” he said as he passed by a coffee table featuring black anodized steel I-beams inset into a thick slab of live-edge wood.

He added that the Amish craftsmen he obtains his furniture from routinely create unique items to meet customers’ specifications, whether it is a custom-crafted home bar, chairs fashioned with contrasting species of hardwoods, an unusual bevel on a table’s edge, or a ceiling-height bookcase that looks built-in.

And because The Furniture House buys direct from the manufacturers, the enterprise can offer such custom-crafted furniture featuring premium select hardwoods at discounted prices, DiSiena said.

“We compete with the wholesalers,” he said. “We discount. We’re not a museum, we’re here to do business.”

He added that his employees at both his Saratoga Lake and Queensbury locations are eager to provide assistance with interior design and help people select furniture that fits their lifestyle, while fulfilling their aesthetic preferences.

“Our people will sit down, listen to your needs and your design ideas, and work with you,” he said.

Furniture House’s Saratoga Lake store is located at 1254 state Rte. 9P. Their Queensbury store is at 1060 state Rte. 9 in the Sutton Marketplace.